There *is* a catch-up mechanic in TI -- the agenda phase. It doesn't always serve as well as it should, but it's actually pretty beautiful for me as a catch-up mechanic that the table can decide whether it's worth it or not.
Kingmaking, in my opinion, is almost always against the spirit of a game. Ideally everyone wants to do his best to get the best possible result for him. By kingmaking you are basically forfeiting and ending the game for everybody else because you decided that you didn't want to continue anymore which isn't satisfying at all. The longer a game goes the more frustrating this gets. Playing for hours, taking a game seriously and then losing because somebody else has lost interest in the game would be a reason for me to never invite this particular person again. In TI there might be a situation where this does not 100% apply and where kingmaking may be a consequence of your own actions. If one player has no chance of winning anymore and his decisions help decide if you or somebody else is winning then it comes down to your diplomatic decisions and general behaviour towards everyone else during the whole game. So, if you basically where a d*ick to him, stabbed him in the back even, then there is some kind of justice in the fact that this person is siding against you which isn't really unfair in my book. Basically your strategy didn't work out.
There *is* a catch-up mechanic in TI -- the agenda phase. It doesn't always serve as well as it should, but it's actually pretty beautiful for me as a catch-up mechanic that the table can decide whether it's worth it or not.
Kingmaking, in my opinion, is almost always against the spirit of a game. Ideally everyone wants to do his best to get the best possible result for him. By kingmaking you are basically forfeiting and ending the game for everybody else because you decided that you didn't want to continue anymore which isn't satisfying at all. The longer a game goes the more frustrating this gets. Playing for hours, taking a game seriously and then losing because somebody else has lost interest in the game would be a reason for me to never invite this particular person again.
In TI there might be a situation where this does not 100% apply and where kingmaking may be a consequence of your own actions. If one player has no chance of winning anymore and his decisions help decide if you or somebody else is winning then it comes down to your diplomatic decisions and general behaviour towards everyone else during the whole game. So, if you basically where a d*ick to him, stabbed him in the back even, then there is some kind of justice in the fact that this person is siding against you which isn't really unfair in my book. Basically your strategy didn't work out.
We've removed SFTT from our games and decreased the point requirements by one.
Doesn't prevent all kingmaking, but screens for the most egregious ones
Kingmaking is fine.